Manchester United’s Danny Welbeck could be set to leave the club this month (Picture: AP Photo)

There have been plenty of reports over the past few weeks claiming that Danny Welbeck is one of the players that Louis van Gaal has told can leave the club.

Considering that United have already lost six players this summer and have only signed three, it seems odd that the manager would be open to other players leaving.

However, suppose the story is true and Welbeck, who is becoming frustrated at a lack of playing time in his preferred position, was to leave the club, what would United be missing out on?

Some fans, United’s included, believe it would be no great loss. They point to his less than impressive goalscoring record and believe the club could do better for a striker in reserve.

Last season, Welbeck scored nine goals in 25 games, which is nothing to write home about. However, when you consider that he started just 10 of those games, suddenly his goalscoring ratio looks a bit better.

Towards the end of last season, 11tegen11 produced a table looking at the number of goals per 90 minutes that players in the Premier League scored. Welbeck’s strike rate of 0.64 was only bettered by Daniel Sturridge (0.87), Luis Suarez (1) and Sergio Aguero (1.06).

When you then consider that Welbeck is only 23, years away from his peak, it adds weight to the case he deserves more time. Last season, Welbeck averaged 0.36 goals per league game. At the same age, Karim Benzema averaged 0.3 goals per game, Didier Drogba 0.25, Ian Wright 0.24 and Dwight Yorke 0.16.

That’s not to say that Welbeck is the next Drogba, but that a player who displays average form when they are just 23 may go on to have an incredible career. If you had told Guingamp fans that their 23-year-old striker would one day go on to play an instrumental role in the multiple league titles, FA Cups, League Cups and European Cup that Chelsea would win over the next ten years, I imagine they would have laughed in your face.

Whilst this is all important information to consider, there is room for a bit of sentimentality in football, and in Welbeck, United have a true fan.

When United won the Champions League in 1999, Welbeck watched the game from his front room in Manchester and celebrated wildly when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer put the ball in the net. ‘The celebrations were mental,’ he said. ‘I think the whole street went wild!’

That street was in Longsight where Welbeck grew up kicking the ball around with his neighbour Wes Brown. He idolised Ryan Giggs as a youngster and dreamed of playing for United when he was older.

Welbeck scored on his debut against Stoke and it was clear to everyone how much it meant to him scoring for this club.

Carlos Tevez scored 5 goals in 29 games in his last season at United, but didn’t stop fans drowning out Sir Alex Ferguson’s end of season speech with chants begging for the striker to be signed. It’s strange that United fans can’t show the same love to one of their own that they showed to a want-away mercenary.